The Three Musketeers (will ride again)
by The Readers Muse
Summary: "You know, when I pictured the end of the world, I thought it would be like it was in the comics. With all that cool stuff. Like in Blade with all the fancy weapons," Carl commented quietly, shaking his head as he started dismantling his gun for cleaning. "I know, pretty stupid right?"


**Disclaimer:** I don't own AMC's The Walking Dead or any of its characters, wishful thinking aside.

**Authors Note #1:** This is an au on "Coda" where Beth got out of Grady alive and rejoined the group, potentially changing Tyreese's and Noah's fate. Upon asking for Noah prompts, I got two in my inbox, and decided to squish them together: "Noah and Tyreese talk about alternative weapons (hammers, stakes, swords, etc). Bonus points for a Blade reference." &amp; "Noah, Carl and Beth as the Three Musketeers of post-apop zombie land," – so consider this ficlet and mish-mash of both.

**Warnings:** Spoilers for "Coda," up until the end, after which this would be considered an au. *****Contains: mild adult language, mild adult content, basically nothing really, it is a snippet of a scene where all our dead babies are alive, and I am giving them a happy ending.

**The Three Musketeers (will ride again)**

"You know, when I pictured the end of the world, I thought it would be like it was in the comics. With all that cool stuff. Like in Blade with all the fancy weapons," Carl commented quietly, shaking his head as he started dismantling his gun for cleaning. "I know, pretty stupid right?"

"I dunno man," Noah returned, small smile growing when Beth caught his eye over the curl of her journal. "When me and my dad were caught out in the suburbs, in the beginning, just trying to escape the city - stuck in the crush, gridlock and all that. The car in front of us did a header into a cement roller."

"Hit it so hard its front rims flew off and sliced the heads off a couple walkers attacking people on the sidewalk. It was pretty badass," Noah explained, whirling his arm around in an arc as if to mimic it. "Reminded me of that "Xena: The Warrior Princess" show and her – _uh_ – thing. What was it called? Shit, that wanna-be Frisbee thing with the-"

"Chakram," Tyreese supplied helpfully, screwing the cap on his canteen as he leaned back against the trunk of a tree. Eye fluttering closed for a blissful half-second before they popped open again. "Wasn't Xena before your time anyway?" he questioned.

"My mom was a stickler for making sure we grew up with 'strong female representation in media'," Noah replied, sounding like he was reading from a manual as he concluded with air quotes. Tossing a handful of grass into the fire, the shadow of his smile lessening slightly at the mention.

"I've never heard of it," Beth piped up, timely as ever. Looking up from her journal with genuine interest. "What was it about?"

Noah was half-way through a very entertaining and somewhat halting reconstruction of the first episode when a rattling growl issued from the trees on the opposite side of the clearing.

"Walkers," Noah warned, hand drifting down towards his Glock as Beth placed her journal carefully to the side, marking her place with her pen before getting to her feet.

"Quietly," she replied, unsheathing her knife as Carl and Noah nodded. "No guns, we don't want to attract anything else if we don't have to. Besides, Judith is sleeping."

Tyreese was halfway up before Carl gestured a negative.

"Don't worry, we've got it," he replied, tugging at the brim of his hat as he and Noah picked up their machetes and followed after Beth in a loose v.

Tyreese just watched them go. One brow slightly raised before settling back against the tree with a grateful sigh. It was a strange thing to get your head around sometimes. How you can go from talking about something as silly as a campy old TV show, to blood, guts and violence in the next. Honestly, he wondered if he'd ever get used to it.

He watched the trio's progress across the field with interest. Inwardly pleased at the way both Carl and Noah instinctively flanked her as Beth took the lead. Silently communicating their targets as they dispatched the small group with barely a ripple of difficulty. Exchanging high fives when the deed was done, chattering quietly. Wiping their blades clean in the long grass as they started back to the summer shade of the Weeping Willows.

It was like the Three Musketeers with that bunch lately.

And_ hell_ if it wasn't about damn time in his opinion.

It was nice to see kids acting like kids again.

It was the kind of thing that gave him hope.

Hope for today.

Hope for tomorrow.

Hope for a future that seemed less and less likely every day.

But they were still here.

Still alive.

He supposed in the end, that was what really mattered.

_They still had today._

* * *

**A/N #1: **Thank you for reading. Please let me know what you think! Reviews and constructive critiquing are love! – This story is now complete.


End file.
